US troops comb Iraq for missing comrades

US troops in Iraq are searching for missing American comrades and hunting for clues to the killing of other soldiers in the face of growing resistance to three months of occupation.

Britain's Financial Times reports the Pentagon has sent an independent mission to Iraq to review post-war operations.

The review comes at a time when companies looking to invest are being warned of an "even" chance the country will descend into open revolt.

In a further sign of tensions since US and British troops toppled Saddam Hussein, Britain is blaming a "misunderstanding" for the killings of six British soldiers by Iraqis this week.

Major-General Peter Wall, commander of British forces patrolling southern Iraq, says his troops had never intended to search for weapons in Majjar on Tuesday as locals had mistakenly thought.

He vowed on Thursday to bring the killers to justice.

But angry local leaders are warning against any attempt to arrest those suspected of carrying out the attack, the worst on invading forces since March 23 - three days after the war began.

The US army said on Friday that another of its soldiers was killed in an ambush on Thursday, raising to 21 the number of Americans killed since US President George W Bush declared major combat over on May 1.

A US Central Command statement, while scarce on details, says the soldier was ambushed near Najaf on Thursday while investigating a car theft.

He died before he could be taken away for medical treatment.

The army says it is investigating.

It also says it is questioning three Iraqi suspects about two US soldiers missing with their Humvee vehicle since Wednesday.

Troops are searching on land and by air, using two AH-64 Apache helicopters to look for the soldiers.

A defence official says the two soldiers are believed to have been kidnapped from the town of Balad.

With sabotage against oil installations and attacks on US-led forces coming almost daily, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said: "We always knew that it would be dangerous and it would take time."

"We are concerned obviously and we are working hard to deal with the problem and I have confidence in the Department of Defense and the military commanders," he said.

The Financial Times reports the Pentagon has sent an outside team of policy experts to conduct an independent review of post-war operations in Iraq amid growing criticism that the US failed to prepare for occupation.

It reports a small group had left for Baghdad on Thursday at the invitation of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.